Comments on: Egg Marketing Boards

By: Strocel.com | Eggs, Colour and Ethics

Strocel.com | Eggs, Colour and Ethics — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 13:02:06 +0000

[...] years ago, I looked into the way that eggs are regulated and sold in Canada. We have a marketing board – the Canadian Egg Marketing Agency – and they’re [...]

By: Julieanne

Julieanne — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 00:16:37 +0000

Why do with some eggs they are hard to peel?

By: Howling Duck Ranch

Howling Duck Ranch — Sat, 09 May 2009 14:24:57 +0000

DaniGirl—as for the long, cold, Ottawa winters, you can build (or buy a kitset) chicken house and insulate it. The chickens will be fine. They are very hearty. Also, you may want to look into the only true Canadian breed called the Chantecler chicken. There are breeders who are maintaining this heritage breed in Ontario and Quebec. It was purposefully bred by a Monk in Oka, Quebec to stand the eastern Canadian cold winters. Check out this site for more information and breeder leads:

http://www.cfagrf.com/Chantecler_chicken.htm

Helping to maintain this endangered heritage breed, even in a backyard, would be a worthwhile cause and provide you with the best eggs you’ll ever taste… Good luck!

By: Fabulously Broke

Fabulously Broke — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 17:34:33 +0000

What howling duck ranch said.

Different chickens = different eggs.

I only buy brown and organic and pay $5.59 for a dozen each time because they TASTE LIKE REAL EGGS!

If i could buy from a local farmer, I would. Or have my own chicken.

By: Emily R

Emily R — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 12:31:36 +0000

i had always wondered exactly the same thing

By: DaniGirl

DaniGirl — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 12:35:30 +0000

Fascinating stuff! I would love to have a few chickens in our back yard simply to have the supply of fresh eggs, but have come up against the stumbling block of the long, cold Ottawa winter.

As an aside, I recently noticed that brown eggs from the same supplier cost more than white in our local grocery store. I have no idea why!

Thanks for the enlightening post!

By: Lady M

Lady M — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 09:41:11 +0000

Really interesting! We’ve just started to be able to get eggs at the supermarket from free range hens, but I imagine these are still not comparable to the quality you’d find at a farmer’s market.

By: Leanna

Leanna — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 01:45:21 +0000

I was going to answer your question, but since it has already been done I won’t. I have been raising chickens for 5 years now, and I am glad that I can rovide fresh egss for my family and make a small amout of money form friends and family to pay for the feed. The chickens pay for thier own food I only have 15 birds and get a wide variety of eggs. Blue from the Americauna x’s and brown and creams from the others

The other nice thing is that I have had some of my birds for the whole 5 years, and although some of those girls don’t lay anymore, they get to live out their lives with us for all the hard work they did!

By: Abbie

Abbie — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 19:28:57 +0000

The color of an egg is dependent on the type of chicken. The big commercial operations have one type of chicken that lays well, and they happen to lay white eggs. I have a feeling the “sanitary” look of white eggs has a lot to do with it. Many heritage breed chickens lay brown eggs, which is why you see those at the farmer’s markets and from backyard hens, where you look at more than just the laying capacity of the hen, for example you’ll also take into account how friendly they are when looking for backyard hens. Around here, the saying is “Brown eggs are local eggs and local eggs are fresh.” There are some breeds that lay blue, green, or pink eggs, too. We’ve been planning on getting chickens and I want to get some of the “Easter-eggers” that lay blue or green eggs, just cause they’re so pretty and the birds are supposed to be very friendly.

The yolks of eggs at farmer’s markets are ususally more orange because the hens eat a more varied diet than the ones raised in little cages.

Around here, it’s not illegal to sell raw milk as long as it’s labeled with warnings that it’s raw. I personally prefer pasteurized milk, since that Biology degree makes me wary of the unpasteurized, but I have seen the merits of each. I don’t drink that much milk anyway. Both of my parents were raised on dairy farms, but dairy farms around here are disappearing because of the set price of milk. Larger farms out of state do better because the cost of land, feed, even cows is so much lower. The dairy farms that are making it here offer specialty items, like raw milk, homemade cheeses, or even beauty products.

Thanks for the interesting post! I always love to learn more about food in other countries!

By: Howling Duck Ranch

Howling Duck Ranch — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 19:09:30 +0000

Thanks for linking to my site. Yes, there is an amazing array of regulations for every farming activity in this country these days. Unfortunately, these are pushing the small, sustainable, ethically sensible, family run farms out of business. As you point out, there is a vast chasm between 99 laying hens and 10,000! If we want to take food security seriously, let alone rural economic development and a host of other issues (animal rights, environmental stewardship, and so on) seriously, then these prohibitive and unnecessary regulations must change.

As to why the Farmer’s Market eggs tend to be brown (or green, blue, pink) and the industrial eggs white, the answer is this: the industrial corporations are in for the money only, therefore they use the White Leghorn breed of chicken for their layers. These birds have been tinkered with over time to be relegated to ‘egg making machines’ and they suffer for it. In contrast, most small holders are more interested in maintaining diversity and thus often are busy breeding heritage breeds and staying away from the ‘genetically modified’ breeds of the industrial agriculture sector. There are few heritage breeds that are good layers who also lay white eggs.

Finally, I would like to point out that we small holders have only recently won the right to sell uninspected eggs at Farmer’s Markets (I believe the legislation was finally overturned just this last year –2008– thanks to the diligence of a group of women on Salt Spring Island who fought against the prohibition for many, many years.)

cheers,

HDR